PORTLAND, Ore. – In a year filled with unprecedented challenges and obstacles related to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a period of time when the Corban University men's basketball team was uncertain if it was ever going to compete in a contest of any kind in the 2020-21 season.
Led by a first-year head coach and featuring an almost entirely new starting five, few expected the Warriors to make waves among the talented Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) ensemble when the CCC announced the implementation of an abbreviated spring schedule on March 2.
However, with the Navy and Gold's 115-69 rout of Multnomah University on Monday, Corban claimed sole possession of the CCC Spring-Season Championship, bringing hardware back to Salem with the squad's fifth-consecutive triumph.
With a 10-2 record (.833) in CCC play (15-3 overall), the Warriors clinched the highest winning percentage in the conference's standings, the determining factor for the CCC's spring champion.
Earning the title in style, Corban scored a season-high 115 points in today's victory over the Lions, including 72 in a second half where the team shot nearly 70% from the field and 50% from downtown.
Mauricio Smith spearheaded the Warriors' offensive efforts, outdoing his impressive performance yesterday, when he recorded a double-double and registered a new career-high in boards (13). This afternoon, Smith tallied a season-high 23 points and once again established a new career high in rebounds with 16.
While Smith dominated down low, Josiah Roth, Jordan Newt, and Kendall Moore excelled in the backcourt. Roth turned in a 17-point effort on an efficient 8-of-11 (72.7%) shooting, adding six rebounds to his stat line.
In the final game of his collegiate career, Newt dropped 15 points (6-of-10 FG), dished out a game-high six assists, and snatched five boards. He finishes the 2020-21 season with a stellar 47.2% shooting percentage from beyond the arc, the sixth-best clip in program history.
Moore turned in the type of performance that Warrior fans became accustomed to in his exceptional inaugural season in the Navy and Gold. The sophomore guard ended the afternoon with 14 points and three boards, and ends the campaign as the team's leading scorer after averaging 14 PPG in 2021.
Delivering a career night in the final game of his collegiate tenure, Domen Omladic scored a career-high 11 points to provide a huge boost off the bench for head coach Taylor Kelly and company.
In addition, Dirk Helaire II was also tremendous in reserve, scoring eight points, grabbing eight boards, and tallying four steals to make his presence felt on both sides of the ball.
As a team, the Navy and Gold shot at a blistering 57.1% mark from the floor, and 48.0% clip from three-point range.
In a season filled with so many unknowns, and with so much newness surrounding the Warrior squad, the 2021 spring campaign showed a glimpse of a promising future ahead for the program.
Corban played 11 of its 17 games away from the comforts of the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center, and still managed to navigate its way to the CCC Spring-Season title. Meanwhile, the squad defended newly-minted Tim Hills Court admirably, winning all but one of its games at home.
Kelly will enter his second season at the helm with a strong core to build around, and anticipation to see the squad return to the floor for the 2021-22 season with be as high as ever.
But for now, the Warriors will enjoy the fruits of a tumultuous journey in 2020-21, which will be a season marked by perseverance, dedication, and resiliency.
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